How to make or tie a boutique hairbow

Well you know how I like a theme to keep me ticking along..well we have a new theme today...bows. Bows to me are just part of the whole hair 'thing' So we've had the pigtail challenge, the curl chronicals and now the Hairbow. I have prepared an entire ebook on the topic of bows - there is a link to purchase it over on the side bar there - but I thought I'd share some of the more basic techniques here. So here we go, full instructions on how to tie a boutique bow.
You can make a bow out of just about any type of ribbon but I think the easiest to work with is grosgrain. You will also need some scissors, a lighter and something to tie your bow with - you can experiement here with what works best - some people like wire, some like elastic..me I use crochet yarn.
Start by making a V-Cut in the ribbon if that is how you prefer the ends of your bows.

You then need to seal the end by burning it - just use your lighter and wave it gently over the edge of the ribbon - you will see it sort of melt - dont' be afraid, it is very easy and quite unlikely it will catch fire. Just don't do it in a draught or you will end up with black ribbon.

Step 1: Hold the ribbon in you left hand with the end of the ribbon pointing down towards your left arm. Take the long end of the ribbon and flip it over the short end the ribbon to make a loop as shown above.

Step 2: Turn your left hand so the palm is facing up and form another loop placing it on top of the first loop so that your thumbs are touching through the ribbon.

Step 3: With your thumb on top, place your right forefinger behind the two loops and pinch to hold in place. Now let go with your left hand and reposition as shown above. If your loops are not quite even you can adjust them at this point.

Step 4. Holding the bow with you right hand, turn the bow so that the two loops are facing the left and then pinch the bow with your left hand to leave your right hand free. Take the long end of the ribbon and pull it away from you maintaining the angle it is on.

Step 5: Turn your right palm towards the roof so that the ribbon begins to form a loop.

Step 6: Look down at your bow. There is a cross in the middle of the bow. You want to slip the loop you are making in the middle of the cross. The long end of the ribbon should now be pointing diagonally towards you.

Step 7: take the long end of the ribbon in your right hand and form the final loop by moving your right hand towards your left hand and pop you thumb on top to hold in place.

Step 8. Now carefully move your bow around so that the long end of the ribbon is on the right hand side. Place both thumbs on top of the bow. You can use this opportunity to adjust your loops if they are not quite even.

tep 9. Next carefully fold the middle of the bow like an accordion. To do this I move my left thumb up towards the top of the bow and pinch the top of the bow with my right hang. Push the pinched part of the bow towards the thumb and then press down and pinch yo gold. Move the left thumb along and repeat.

Step 10 At the end it should look like this. Pinch the bow together with one hand and get ready to tie the bow in place.

Step 11. Take your crochet yarn and cut a piece roughly 17" long. Holding the bow in your left hand take the yarn and slip it over the last three fingers of your left hand. Curl your fingers over and grab onto the yarn next to your index finger. Take the yarn over the centre of the bow and wrap it tightly around the bow two and a half times so that the yarn ends up at the back of the bow.

Step 12: Tie the yarn in a knot. You may want to do this by holding the bow against your chest or on a surface in front of you.

Step 13. Snip the yarn closely and aside from finishing off the ends of the tails you are have made a perfect boutique bow.

And there you have it....a boutique bow! You now just need to attach it to some sort of clip. It takes a bit of practice to tie a bow and at the beginning you might feel like you are all fingers and thumbs, but just keep at it - you CAN do it! Good luck!